Many testing programs include a section of optional questions in addition to mandatory parts of a test. These optional parts of a test are not often truly parallel to one another, and groups of examinees selecting each optional test section are not equivalent to one another. This paper provides a general method based on missing-data methods for…

Findings of a study that examined the relationship between Ohio school district income levels and student testing performance are presented in this paper. The first statistical analysis categorized districts by residents' average income, and the second analysis classified them according to the percentage of families receiving Aid to Dependent…

A qualitative study investigated the test-taking behaviors, knowledge, and perceptions of 20 urban, adult basic education students reading at third to fifth grade equivalency levels. The entire reading comprehension subtest of the Test of Adult Basic Education, levels E and M, was administered under standardized conditions. A combination of…

Early intervention has shifted in focus to family centered assessment and treatment. The Comprehensive Evaluation of Family Functioning was developed to meet the need for accurate family assessment, but limited psychometric information on the measure is available. The present research investigated the psychometric properties of the CEFF with a…

Assessments of social competence have played a major role in the identification and treatment of youth with emotional disorders. This study examined the construct validity of the social skills subtest of the Social Skills Rating System (SSRS) when used with youth with emotional disorders. Comparisons were made to examine the convergent and…

Although recent research studies have questioned the efficacy of certification testing, Georgia's Department of Education, with help from National Evaluation Systems, developed the Georgia Certification Test in Administration and Certification (GCT). Since 1983, the test has been required for both certification and recertification. The present…

This project extended the application of a model for development of semi-direct tests of oral proficiency, originally developed for Chinese, to a diverse set of less commonly taught languages spanning various language families and representing diverse cultural backgrounds. This second, final report covers development of tests for Hebrew, Hausa,…

This paper describes the planning of a qualitative research methodology to develop strategies to improve and expand social interaction skills of deaf-blind students in supported employment settings. Characteristics of qualitative research are delineated and include: definition of the domain of the research; an evolving study design; behavior…

The development of a project to assess the effectiveness of schools in a large urban school district is described in this paper, with a focus on improving the validity of school effectiveness instruments. Purposes of the project were to develop a methodology for reporting effective school strategies and to generate a broader profile of schools'…

An adaptation of the Foreign Service Institute's (FSI) oral interview test for oral language proficiency developed for use at the American Institute of Musical Studies' (AIMS) summer vocal institute in Austria to determine students' improvement in German language is discussed. The reasons for its selection over other major comparable tests are…

A series of studies with adults resulted in a standardized test to assess children's comprehension of main ideas in simple narratives. The test, utilizing stories from the WISC-R picture arrangement task, was then employed in a developmental investigation with second, fifth, and eighth grade students. Each student completed the WISC-R arrangement…

A study was conducted to determine (1) if the gratifications sought and obtained model were applicable to local television news viewing, and (2) if the scales constructed from factor analyses of gratifications sought and obtained could predict television news viewing. The focus of the study was a new television station in central Illinois that…

A procedure was developed to systematically reduce 199 indicators of teaching effectiveness identified in related literature to a more manageable number for use in the University of Washington's assessment system for student teachers. The Teaching Performance Assessment Instrument from the University of Georgia was used as a model for grouping the…

Historically, theories of personality development assigned prominence to the construct of autonomy, which often represented a developmental endpoint. To develop and validate an observer measure of autonomy and to further describe the dynamics underlying the personality and behavior of autonomous individuals, a 10-item scale (Auto CQ) was developed…

The use of the data files contained in the High School and Beyond (HSB) research project is discussed. The comments are based on an analysis of the HSB material and are specifically directed at the language file, high school bilingual program participation, and HSB tests. In an evaluation of the language file, the question of whether Hispanic…